Filinvest Development inks lease for site of 405-MW coal plant

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: April 23, 2013 
 FDC Utilities Inc. the power generation arm of the Filinvest Development Corporation, has signed a lease agreement with the Phividec Industrial Authority (PIA) for the site of its planned 405-megawatt coal-fired power facility.
This somehow formalizes the long-reported plan of the company to pursue its proposed P30 billion investment to put up added capacity for the supply-deficient Mindanao grid.
The lease arrangement provides that 84.4 hectares of the PIA estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental will be allotted for the power project.
The Filinvest plant will be sited proximate to the existing 210-MW coal-fired plant of Steag State Power Inc. which is the first power facility locator at the Phividec Industrial Estate.
The ceremonial signing of the agreement in Malacañang was witnessed by no less than President Benigno S. Aquino III and Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.
The signatory for the Phividec estate was PIA Administrator Tereso Leo Magno; while the Filivest group was represented by its chairman of the board Jonathan T. Gotianun and FDC Utilities president Jesus N. Alcordo.
The facility is targeted on stream around 2016. Effectively, it will be part of the second wave of long-term solutions for the supply woes of brownout-stricken Mindanao grid.
In his remarks during the signing ceremony, President Aquino noted that the planned multi-billion investment of the Gotianun group “is a boat (sic) of confidence on their part, and this should be encouraged.”
The Chief executive added that “there are advantages to putting it (power plant) in Phividec, and there are certain bureaucratic niceties that had to be attended to to have a, in a sense, really make Phividec a progressive component of this country.”
Aquino thus committed that the government would be there “to help those who are actively helping to solve the problem (of Mindanao) instead of grandstanding.”
For the generated capacity of the power plant, prospective buyers, aside from the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in Mindanao, could be the co-locators at the Phividec industrial estate, such as the proposed Kawasaki steel plant at the site.
The planned interconnection of the Visayas and Mindanao grids as well as the setting up of an electricity spot market in Mindanao will also provide added opportunities for power plant developers in terms of selling their capacities.   source